For the Love of Pizza

I love pizza, and I suspect most of you do, too. So many of my food memories involve the tantilising trio of tomatoes, bread and cheese. For our birthday parties, my mother used to organise a 'make your own pizza' activity, and many a Friday night was spent with the family rolling dough and chopping the toppings. In college, the takeaway pizza is ubiquitous. This, of course, included arguments with flatmates over whether the leftovers were best eaten cold or reheated the next day and whether the flavour 'developed' by not putting it the fridge.

Despite these happy memories, pizza can get a bad rap. It is often slapped with the 'junk food' label, and we are meant to feel that pizza is a guilty pleasure. It needn't be so. It can be made in a calorie- and fat conscious way and has been endorsed as a having health benefits. Bring in my 'Skinny Pizza'. Made with what may seem like a very small amount of flour, if rolled thin and cooked to perfection, it provides a large surface area for lots of lovely toppings. Where you can go wrong is with the cheese. Here I use half-fat cheese, but if you don't like that idea, you can certainly use a full-fat cheese, just keep to a small amount. For the toppings, the sky is the limit. If you are being mindful of fat and calories, keep to vegetable toppings.

Once you get the hang of it, the process does not take as long as you might think. You can even make a quickie, non-cook sauce by blending tomato puree (paste) with a bit of water, a touch of olive oil, basil, oregano, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper.

Skinny Pizza
Serves 2

For the dough
50ml hot water
1 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp honey
50g strong white bread flour
50g strong wholemeal bread flour
good pinch of salt
extra flour for kneading and rolling

Add the yeast and honey to the hot water and let sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, mix flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add water mixture and mix with you hands until you have a soft dough. If it is too sticky or too wet, adjust accordingly.

Turn dough out on a clean, floured surface and knead for a few minutes. When you have a smooth non-sticky dough, place the dough back into the bowl and cover with clingfilm. Let prove in a warm place for around 45 minutes.

While the dough is proving, prepare the sauce and toppings. After the dough has risen (and doubled in size, more or less), punch out the air on a floured surface and roll out very thin, dusting rolling pin as needed. When rolled, he dough should fill a pizza pan 35cm (14") in diameter or the equivalent rectangular baking tray. (Don't be too fussed if the dough is a bit rustic in its shape).

For the sauce
olive oil spray
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
300ml passata (tomato sauce, in US terms)
a splash of water
1 heaped teaspoon dried basil
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
bay leaf
dried chili pepper (optional)
a generous pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in olive oil spray until soft and translucent. Add garlic and fennel seeds and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Skim off any froth and turn down to a simmer. Cook until nicely thickened, about 30 minutes.

For the toppings
1/2 a small onion, sliced
1/2 a red pepper, sliced
5 mushrooms, sliced
6 black olives, pitted and chopped
10 thin slices Spanish chorizo or pepperoni
1 clove garlic, sliced (optional)
50g half-fat cheddar, shredded

Place the sliced onion, pepper and mushrooms on a microwave safe plate and cover with clingfilm. Puncture the clingfilm in the centre. Microwave a full power for one minute. Leave to rest.

Carefully tip the vegetable juices from the plate into the sauce. Stir. Remove bay leaf and dried chili and discard. Spread the sauce evenly on the pizza base. You may not need all the sauce, depending on your preferences. Layer the vegetables, olives, garlic, meat and cheese. Sprinkle with additional oregano and spray with olive oil spray.

Bake in a hot (220C/450F) oven for about 10 minutes, checking and turning halfway through.

Slice and enjoy.